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The ACC schools that have instate rivals in the SEC like Louisville because they do as well. There was a debate in the conference between playing 8 conference games per season or playing 9. We were at 9, and they complained about their ability to schedule with 9 due to their SEC rivals. The other schools didn't have this issue. It's similar in the SEC where Alabama/Auburn and the Mississippi schools want 9 games. They don't have an instate ACC rival. This was a factor for the votes of Miami, FSU, GT, and Clemson. The vote was taken before the Sugar Bowl, but Louisville's spanking of the Florida Gators has added to their popularity in that part of the ACC.
Additionally, Louisville has recently wrapped up home and home series against NC State, UNC, Miami, and FSU over the past decade. They have a history of ticket sales in these ACC stadiums for football that impressed these schools. The same went for bowl games against Wake Forest, NC State, and Virginia Tech.
I personally would like to see UConn invited, and I've explained that here. Virginia sits in the mid-Atlantic and has a long history of playing northeastern schools dating all the way back to when the Ivy League Schools dominated college football. We owe Yale, Princeton, and Penn a few lossses even though we obviously don't play them anymore. I also like the academic resume of UConn.
I happen to think all of this is wildly overblown. And the ACC will soon find that out. It's kind of laughable actually.
Swofford is not nearly the strategist that Delany is. Swofford is always a day late and a dollar short.